Hungry for news? Welcome to our Friday Feed, where we run through all the local food and restaurant news this week—and maybe help you figure out where to eat this weekend.

Remembering Binh Dang of Green Tree

Binh Dang, one of the owners of Greenwood’s Green Tree Vietnamese Restaurant, passed away on February 9 at the age of 48. Green Tree opened in early 2020 and quickly became a go-to for bright salads and silky bánh cuốn. Coming out of pandemic restrictions, the friendly service and willingness to drop off takeout orders next door at Flying Bike Cooperative Brewery cemented its place as a Greenwood favorite. The restaurant is temporarily closed, without word on when it might reopen.

Do People Hate Pizza Now?

For the second time in two weeks, my research into rumors about a new restaurant revealed that online haters really don’t want more pizza in their neighborhood. Last week, it was about Cornelly coming to Queen Anne, this week the commenters on a West Seattle Blog post about the Neighborhood replacing the long-closed Press & Peel say the ‘hood is full up on that genre. This is ridiculous; there is no such thing as too much pizza, plus the restaurant comes from a pair of restaurateurs deeply involved in West Seattle’s food scene, Jenny and Ahmed Almukhtar. Both were partners in the Bridge, he was a chef at Talarico’s and is now at Cactus. She also worked elsewhere in the region, including as a manager at Mama Stortini’s. Not only is pizza good (which makes these complaints absurd), but a follow-up post clarifies that the restaurant will have much more than just pies.

As Long As They Don’t Hate Coffee, Too

West Seattle Blog was busy this week, because they also broke the news about Hagosa’s House, a coffee shop that Feaven Berhe plans to open this month in the former Pearls location on Delridge. The website for Hagosa’s House explains it is named after Berhe’s grandmother and will honor her Eritrean heritage.

After Much Clucking, Game of Chicken Ends

With the closure of the final remaining location of Heaven Sent Fried Chicken at the end of February, Seattle’s most storied fried chicken feud comes to a sad end. Heaven Sent, which at one point had three locations, was opened by Ezell Stephens after he split from the chicken chain that still carries his name. Stephens opened Ezell’s, now 18 locations strong, with his wife and brother-in-law, Lewis Rudd. After a divorce, the business partnership broke up, too, resulting in a lawsuit and settlement granting Rudd use of Ezell’s name. Both continued making the chicken once declared the best by Oprah Winfrey and many decades of Garfield High School students. Having been one of those students and having reported on the rivalry for years, my take is that Stephens fries a mean wing, but there’s more to business than keeping the biscuits hot.

No Sinigang Today

Pike Place Market’s finest Filipino lunch counter, Oriental Mart is closed until April 15 for Tita Leila’s annual trip back to the Philippines. The beloved 54-year-old restaurant, honored in 2020 by the James Beard Foundation as an American Classic, closes around this time each year for Leila Rosas, the woman and magic behind the counter, to visit her homeland.

Oh, BTW, here’s what you missed last week.